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It was obvious to your correspondent at the Grey Cup that the Edmonton Eskimos general manager had decided on his new head coach and that it was Toronto Argos defensive co-ordinator Chris Jones. And I wrote it.

But instead of waiting until the week of the Ottawa expansion draft as projected, Hervey brought Jones to town and presented him at a press conference Wednesday.

“I only thought that there was one person who could meet all our expectations,” said Hervey.

“You know who you can work with and who you can’t work with. There was no point in fooling myself and fooling them. Take another month for what? Knowing you can’t work with someone or that there’s not a fit?

“There’s a fit here between Chris and I. We’ve got the right guy. I know we’ve got the right guy.

“I believe in Chris Jones. We should believe in Chris Jones. And the fans should definitely buy in and believe in Chris Jones. It’s a new day here in Edmonton and things are going to be fantastic from now on.”

Thus, on the same day of the year 59 years ago that the Eskimos won their first Grey Cup and the very same day on the calendar as they won their most recent eight years ago, Christopher Phillip Jones became the 20th head coach of the club.

Jones didn’t say it, but you got the idea he probably wouldn’t have taken either the Ottawa or Winnipeg jobs, which are also available.

“Once upon a time I was enamoured just to be a head coach. I just wanted to be a head coach. Anywhere would have been sufficient,” he said.

“Over the last couple of years I realized it was important to me to be around good quality people and enjoy going to work every single day. When you have people you enjoy being around, people you want to work for and people you want to work with … that’s what we want to create here. If you got good folks and everybody know what their job is and everybody is pulling that rope the same way, then you’ve got a chance to be successful.

“There are some pieces in place here. There are a lot of really good things here. You don’t have any problems with facilities. You’ve got a quarterback. There are some things on this football team we’re going to have to address but there are a lot of really, really good things.

“A few tweaks and this is not a 4-14 team. If you’ve looked at the personnel as closely as I have, you know some of the parts are there. It’s just a matter of finding some help in other spots.

“I remember being a young man down in the little small town of South Pittsburgh, Tenn., where they make cast iron, and all I wanted to do was be a head football coach. Now I have chance to do it with what I think is the best organization in this league and I fully expect to put together a tremendous staff, I fully expect to win a ton of games and bring the Grey Cup back here.”

Jones had an opportunity to become Montreal Alouettes head coach at this time last year but elected to remain as defensive co-ordinator in Toronto, in addition to adding the titles of assistant general manager and associate coach.

Hervey made it quite clear after firing Kavis Reed, who had virtually a complete change of assistant coaches every season, that the new head coach was going to be the guy who first and foremost could deliver the best co-ordinators and the kind of staff which would have the intent to stay together and build something together.

Jones, in a few minutes of one-on-one interviewing with your correspondent, said he knows who he wants as his co-ordinators, and he believes and convinced Hervey he can deliver them. But they have to go through the procedure of asking permission to interview them.

He said the three co-ordinators he has in mind “are all in the Canadian Football League and have all been champions.”

One, for sure, is expected to be Craig Dickinson of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

For Hervey’s part, he’s convinced Jones will deliver them.

“They’ll be named when the time is appropriate but I have full confidence. I understand the importance of not only the head coaching position but the assistants who will eventually come here. I believe Chris Jones will not only be able to bring a staff that’s capable and a staff that’s loyal to him, but a staff that will be able to be together for a significant time to come.”

Hervey, who didn’t dawdle getting ahead of the pack to acquire Mike Reilly as quarterback last year, didn’t make a long, involved introduction speech about Jones in front of not just the media but fans he invited to join the proceedings in the Eskimos dressing room.

“Today is about 2014 and beyond and the passion we share here in Edmonton. I know I’ve selected the right person to coach this team,” he began.

“We’re committed to building this thing right, to building a winner and I believe that this team is in the right hands of Chris Jones.”

That was it. No building the guy up by mentioning he’s been in the playoffs in all 12 years in the league, in the conference final nine of those years, in the Grey Cup six years and that he won it three times — once with the Montreal Alouettes, once with the Calgary Stampeders and once with the Toronto Argos.

“I’m tremendously excited about being here,” began Jones in his southern drawl that 12 years coaching in the CFL as an assistant hasn’t diluted.

He pronounces Eskimo “Eskeee-moe.”

“I’m from that very small little town called South Pittsburgh, Tenn., on the Alabama-Tennessee line and there’s a lot of blue collar folks down there who work extremely hard for their money and that’s what you can expect from me as your head coach.

“I’ve been in the league up here for 12 years. I came up here and it seemed like just yesterday. The CFL has been tremendously good for my family. We’ve won a lot of games and been to a lot of Grey Cup championships and we’ve lost a few, but it’s been a tremendous ride and it’s going to continue here in Edmonton.”

It actually started in Edmonton.

Jones was brought in as a guest coach for the 1999 training camp by then head coach Don Matthews and long-time U.S. scout Paul Jones.

“That was a long time ago because there’s a guy in this room who was a rookie that year,” he said of Hervey.

“That’s a long, long time ago. But you knew right then when you walked in this place, went to practice and went to functions, you knew there was something special about Edmonton.

“I grew up around Alabama football, which is the pinnacle of where I’m from and when you come here and feel some of those same things, you knew there was something special.

“When I got to the league I was with a guy you may recognize — Don Matthews,” he said of the coach Hugh Campbell hired to be part of the five-in-a-row Eskimos who went on to be the winningest head coach in the CFL.

At the time Matthews was in Montreal.

“He taught me a ton about the CFL game and how to manage a team and how to, day in and day out, approach them with different ideas and things of that nature to keep them motivated. For that I have to pay tribute to Don for a lot of success that I’ve had.”

He said another thing Matthews taught him was a basic truth.

“You have to have great players and you have to have great coaches. Those are the two things we’re going to focus on in the next few weeks and months. To secure the right people.

“I’m going to hit the ground running,” he said.

“It’s not going to be one of those slow procedures. It’s going to be something we put together in an extremely fast manner.”

And what kind of coach will he be?

“I am extremely demanding from time to time, on the players, on the coaches. I’m an aggressive coach. We’re going to be aggressive on defence. We’re going to play fast. We’re going to be aggressive on special teams. That’s what’s going to be our style.”

New head coach Chris Jones vows to work fast to make the Eskimos successful

It was obvious to your correspondent at the Grey Cup that the Edmonton Eskimos general manager had decided on his new head coach and that it was Toronto Argos defensive co-ordinator Chris Jones. And I wrote it.

But instead of waiting until the week of the Ottawa expansion draft as projected, Hervey brought Jones to town and presented him at a press conference Wednesday.

“I only thought that there was one person who could meet all our expectations,” said Hervey.

“You know who you can work with and who you can’t work with. There was no point in fooling myself and fooling them. Take another month for what? Knowing you can’t work with someone or that there’s not a fit?

“There’s a fit here between Chris and I. We’ve got the right guy. I know we’ve got the right guy.

“I believe in Chris Jones. We should believe in Chris Jones. And the fans should definitely buy in and believe in Chris Jones. It’s a new day here in Edmonton and t